If Things Had Been Different
by Ms. H. Scarlet
Summary: A litte Buffy/Faith story. Focuses on their relationship. What if Faith had never gone bad and never left Sunnydale? Dawn shows up early. Starts around season 3. Fuffy.
1. The Latte Incident

Hey everybody. Reviews are greatly appreciated - especially when they include constructive criticism. Thank you all! I have more to post, I'm just dragging it out a little. I thought I'd see what the general response to the first chapter would be before I continued.

Disclaimer: unfortunately, I own nothing.

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Buffy's Point of View

I sit at a table, drinking a low fat, spice chai latte. If I wanted, I could have ordered something with less dairy, but my slayer capabilities usually interfere with my lactose allergy, negating the effects. Usually. But now the dairy effects are kicking in like a ton of stakes wielded by yours truly.

So I might sound a little whiny, and a little self-centered. Who wouldn't be when you're in my position? I mean, when you've got the whole world in your hands all the time. Being a slayer sucks, pun intended. However, it's less awful with my new powered-up sidekick. That's right. I have a sidekick. Well, technically I have the 'slayerettes,' but this sidekick has a stronger kick. I've said kick too many times. Good Lord, I even babble in my head. Willow would be proud.

Kendra came to town. There isn't really any more to say about that. She traveled in a plane. Came in cargo, and left in coach. Came back, got dead. Like I said, not much to say. I kind of miss her. And yet, Giles' lamp has remained intact after her departure. No more crossbow bolts going awry. Poor lamp.

So Kendra came, left, came again, and then died at the hands of one extra-strength crazy vamp. Now there's Faith. She's sitting in a chair across from me, looking disgruntled. Well, disgruntled might be a bad choice of word. Pissed off would be more accurate. She's not big on the socializing. Neither am I really. The Espresso Pump in the afternoon doesn't fit our personalities. The Bronze at night is more our style. We're here for the company though. We were supposed to meet Willow here for a girl's day out, but she's an hour late and I don't think she's going to show up.

Faith readjusts her position so she's leaning against the wall. She crosses her arms a little tighter and glares at the patrons walking up to the counter. One of them feels her stare and glances over, but quickly turns back to the counter, and their own business. Faith has that intimidating quality about her.

Now I'm shaking. Buggering lactose. I guess the slayer immunity decided to take a day off. Faith glances at me and raises her eyebrows as my body continues to twitch.

"Can I get you some Ritalin for that?" she smirks.

I glare back. Oh… I think I might throw up. Right smack dab in the middle of her Red Eye. That'd be tragic. I think she might punch me if I did that. Not that I couldn't defend myself, it's just that my involuntary defense would probably be puking some more.

Her smirk soon turns to a look of concern as she watches me turn a light shade of green. There are some things that even my special foundation can't handle, sickness color being one of them. My previous foundation just didn't hold out against all the debris and face punching that came with the gig, so Willow had enhanced it scientifically. Well, she had said that it was scientifically. Personally, I think that there was more magic to it than science.

"Buffy?" She must be serious; she isn't calling me 'B.'

"Oh, I don't feel so good," I groaned. She was looking at me like I was dying. I tried to smile, but it just wasn't happening. I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall. For a moment, a wave of peace passed over me. And then my stomach decided to house it's own tsunami.

"Oww." Finally, I couldn't handle it anymore. I hated throwing up, but this was going to have to come out of my system fast. I got up and aimed for the bathroom, and found myself immediately re-directed to a mauve-colored trashcan.

When most of the poison dairy had been painfully thrown from my system, I found myself with a napkin in hand, and in the arms of – someone; someone who had also been holding my hair back as I threw up.

"Feel better?" Funny, that voice was coming from behind me, like it belonged to the person holding me up – preventing me from collapsing on the floor – but that voice sounded like Faith. Faith wasn't comforting. Well, not that she showed outwardly. Hmm.

"Buffy?" the voice spoke again. I felt kind of bad, but all I could do was groan intelligibly. I wiped my mouth off with the offered napkin and tried to push myself out of my apparent savior's arms, but I couldn't. That's odd. I had pushed pretty hard. If it were anyone human or non-magically inclined that was holding me, they would have been forced to let me go.

"I have a lactose allergy," I muttered. Might as well let my captor know that it was something trivial and that my latte hadn't been poisoned. Hopefully.

"Jeez, B. I thought you were dying," that voice was definitely Faith. And the arms around me were definitely hers too, I could tell by the tattoo on her right arm. I turned around slowly, carefully evading pushing against her arms again. I looked into her anxious eyes as they stared back into mine. My word she had really gorgeous eyes. They were like the color of toffee. Toffee has milk in it. Milk made me sick. I turned quickly and retched into the trash again. Maybe her eyes were more like tree bark – hard on the outside because they were a protective gateway to the intricate life within. They were definitely more like tree bark. But in a soft way – more like a truffle. They were truffles. Not the fungus kind, the chocolate kind – the ones with dark chocolate powder on the outside, and with creamy milk chocolate on the inside. Truffles didn't have milk in them, right? Oh my word, I'm rambling again.

"I didn't think I was ugly enough to make you barf at the very looks of me," she grinned.

Since my second little episode, Faith had moved her arms away from my stomach. Now they were resting beneath my stomach on my hips. If I hadn't just thrown up, the feeling would have made my stomach flutter. As it was, it just made me want to curl up in a ball and have her hold me tighter.

I turned around in her arms again and rested my head on her shoulder. She laid her head against mine for a moment, and then spoke softly so only I could hear.

"Well, now that you've made a scene, and everyone is looking at us like we're from a different planet, why don't I take you home?" I muttered my gratitude. She took my arm and put it around her neck, and then put one hand on my hip, and the other bracing my other arm, so she was holding me up. I didn't have to do much except move my legs to make it look like I was walking so people wouldn't stare.

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To be continued.


	2. Spinning

We got outside and started down the sidewalk towards the residential part of Sunnydale. Once we had gotten past the traffic, and had stopped passing people, I closed my eyes and leaned into Faith a little more. This lack of walking thing was tiring too. My goodness, I really hate throwing up. My legs felt like Jell-O still. I don't even like Jell-O. It moves on its own, and that's just too weird for me.

Faith stopped and looked down at me. I stared up at her pleadingly. She sighed and made sure my arm was securely around her neck before bending over to gather my legs in her other arm so that she was carrying me. I smiled slightly and nuzzled my head into the crook of her neck. Her shampoo smelled like flowers. I heard her chuckle.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Well, first you order a drink that you _know_ you're allergic to. Then you throw up, make a scene, and make me carry you home. It seems to me that it was all a big plan to get me to take care of you."

"Um, excuse me? I am too lazy to think that much about being lazy," I snickered.

"Are you always this confusing?" she asked.

"Mostly. But I'm less confusing than Angel, which is a plus."

"Yeah. How's Fang Gang doin' these days?" I had forgotten that she doesn't really like to talk about Angel. She gets this look on her face like she wants to throw up. I didn't want to make her feel like that, especially since I had just had a nasty reminder of how that feels.

"You know, it's not going too well lately. I think he's going to leave after graduation. He just seems like he's plotting some new heartbreak."

"Color me stunned. He has to do something with all that brooding daylight time he has," she grinned. I laughed and tightened my grip around her shoulders.

"I'm glad that I have you, Faith. It's no fun being the 'one girl in all the world.'"

"Tell me about it, blondie."

"Ok. So, before you, I had no one to talk to that had any idea about what I was going through because, hello! Superpowers now! And Giles is never helpful with anything except evil-y stuff and Angel is always all broody and Willow has Oz and Xander and Cordelia are – whatever they are, and now there's Anya, and there is no one that knows or cares about what's happening to me."

"Uh, that's great B, but, you know that's just a figure of speech, right?" she smirked.

"Oh. Haha. Yeah. I just thought—"

"—That I'd listen?" She looked down at me with a genuine expression, one that said that she really would listen and that she cared.

"Well yeah, you don't really have a choice. I mean, you could drop me and leave me on the curb, but who could leave this poor little girl all alone with nothing to fend off all the evil that lurks in this town when the fast-approaching darkness – er – approaches?"

I gave her my best puppy-dog look but she wasn't buying it. Not this time. She laughed at me. She has such a wonderful laugh; it made me want to laugh with her. I didn't though. I just smiled and put my head close to her neck.

We traveled a few more blocks. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that she had been going deliberately slow. There was so much that I didn't know about this girl; so much that I wanted to know.

All too soon we got to my street. I could see the mailbox peeking out onto the street. It was a miracle that it was still fully intact. There had been so many fights in our front yard; I couldn't imagine how the mailbox constantly escaped damage.

"I guess I should drop you off here," she said. She had spoken so softly that I almost didn't hear her.

"Why?" I asked, confused. She went on to mutter something about my mom being all welcoming and uncomfortable and how she had to get back to her motel room. I raised my head to look at her and she misunderstood the gesture and thought I was letting her go and wanted to be put down. Not so much. Once she had put me down, I feigned falling over. She caught me and held me tight against her so that I wouldn't fall again.

"Oh, my head. The lactose makes me throw up and then it makes me really dizzy. I don't think I can make it all the way home," I said, lying through my teeth. She knew I was lying. She could see it when I looked up into her eyes, but to my surprise she decided to play along. Her eyes got a mysterious twinkle in them as she scooped me up into her arms again.

"Really?" she asked. I nodded. She paused for a moment and then held me tighter as she spun in circles all the way down the street. I couldn't help giggling. This made me feel like a little girl.

We got into my yard and she narrowly missed spinning into the mailbox. She staggered, trying to figure out what she had almost hit, and then I found myself tumbling to the ground – still held in her arms. At least she cushioned the fall.

She landed flat on her back with me on top of her. I tried to move off of her so she could regain the air that had been knocked painfully out of her lungs by my arm, but I was dizzy still and I ended up flopping down with my head on her shoulder and one of my arms and both of my legs slung over her torso. My other arm wrapped neatly around my waist as if it were the most natural position in the world.

As the dizziness subsided with our laughter, I found myself reveling in the silence that had washed over us. It was nice, just laying here.

"Can you breathe again?" I asked tentatively breaking the quiet.

"I think so. I think I'm going to have a permanent Buffy-shaped bruise all over me though," she grinned.

"You make that sound like it's a bad thing." I could barely get the sentence out without laughing. "Faith?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Will you – I mean – do you want to stay for dinner, or you know, we could just have a movie night or something. That's what we were planning on doing with Willow; so, we could still do it if you wanted. I have lots of popcorn," I was practically begging. It was fun to hang out with Faith; she really understood stuff.

Faith didn't say anything for a bit. Eventually I moved my head so that I was looking up at her face, and when I did so, I found that she was looking down at me with a smile on her face.

"Um, I'll take that as a 'yes,'" I said. She nodded. "But that means we have to get up." She frowned at that.

"Yeah I guess your mom must think we're drunk or sumthin' all collapsed on the lawn," she continued to frown.

"Mom's not home. She's in LA, buying stuff for The Gallery. So, turn that frown up-side down missy, because there is no parent to advise us about our 'parental-advisory' movies tonight." She smiled. She had a stunning smile. How did she get her teeth to stay so white?

Before I knew it, she had moved out from under my legs and was standing up. Just as suddenly, she leaned over me, reaching for my hands to pull me up. I accepted her offer and found myself almost falling into her arms, she had pulled me so hard. She had to brace her leg behind her so we wouldn't topple onto the ground again.

"Sorry," I muttered. Truthfully, I wasn't that sorry. I didn't mind being so close to her. I could feel her when she was near me; it must have been the shared slayer power. Although, I don't remember feeling it when Kendra was around. The feeling itself is hard to explain. It's kind of like the feeling of drinking hot chocolate when you're really cold, and you can feel the heat go all the way down your throat and spread out into your stomach. It was like that only everywhere. And that was just when she walked into a room. When she was right next to me, it felt as if my heart was pumping out lava instead of blood. The weird thing is that it was never too hot; it was just – comforting, almost; like a fire in the fireplace on Christmas. I guess that it could get as dangerous as tangible fire was, but I don't think it ever will. I think it will always be comfy, Christmas-y fire.

She snapped me out of my thoughts by waving a hand in front of my face.

"Yo, B! Where'd you go?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing," I lied.

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To be continued. Thanks for reading!


	3. Storm

This chapter should clear up the whole Angel issue, for those of you wondering about him. Also, I think I got really out of character with my two favorite slayers here, so let me know what you think. Thank you for the spectacular reviews so far!

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When we had gone inside, we didn't know what to do. We couldn't decide on a movie that we both wanted to watch, so we just sat on the couch and stared at our feet which were propped up on the coffee table.

"Well, this is quite the party," Faith stated sardonically. Shortly after she said this, there was a loud crash of thunder outside – I hadn't noticed that it was about to rain when we had been outside. I jumped off of the couch, and immediately felt quite silly for doing so, especially in front of Faith. As my face grew red, Faith did something that I really hadn't expected.

She stood up quickly, though not from fright. She didn't laugh at me or my embarrassment – instead, she looked at me as though she wanted to tell me something, and then she paused and looked at her feet.

"I was always scared of storms when I was a kid," she looked up at me, "Just like everyone else, I knew that they had a huge amount of power, and they could cause a lot of physical damage. I hated thunderstorms until I became a slayer, and then they weren't as scary." She looked back down at her feet when she was done with this confession.

"Oh. Well, that particular crash just startled me more than usual, but, the truth is, I've always been scared of storms. That's the lucky thing about good ol' Sunny-D. Not many scary lightening flashes and thunder crashes," I had said this very quietly, almost inaudibly. Thanks to slayer hearing, I knew she had heard me.

Faith was full of unexpected gestures today. We both saw another flash of lightening illuminate the room in a too-white light, but before the thunder could crash over the house and make the windows rattle, she had her arms around me. When the thunder finally rolled over us, my head was safely tucked into the crook of her neck for the second time today. After it had passed, we didn't move right away. I slowly leaned my head back to look at her face. Again, she mistook my gesture and dropped her arms from around me, thinking that I wanted to back away from her. She looked past me and then down at the floor.

"Well, B, you wanna go slay something when it's done storming? It's fun in the rain." I expressed my surprise at her change of mood by raising my eyebrows unnaturally high. Thankfully, a sharp knock at the door saved me from having to explain my unusual expression.

I walked over to the front door and opened it, but there was no one there. I turned back to go into the other room, and noticed that Faith was nowhere to be seen.

"Faith?" I called worriedly. She appeared by the stairs, coming out of the kitchen – she had something in her hand.

"Relax, Blondie. I thought it might have been the other door, so I went there." She stuffed a pristine envelope into my hands. "This was sitting out there," she explained.

I turned the envelope over. There was nothing written on it, but it was sealed with a puddle of wax with a scripted 'A' in the middle.

"Oh perfect. It's from – "

"Fang?"

"Uh, yeah." I carefully broke the seal on the envelope and took out the letter that was tucked inside. I scanned over it quickly, wanting to receive the bad news and get it over with as quickly as possible. Faith noticed my pained expression. She didn't read over my shoulder, but she did wrap her arms around me from behind and rest her chin on my shoulder.

I finished reading the letter, but continued to stare at it blindly. "Faith, he's leaving," I stated simply, with no emotion in my voice. She muttered something that sounded a lot like "buggering bastard" and then she let go of me briefly to walk around me so that she was looking me in the eyes.

"He already left, actually," I continued. I heard Faith swear again. "He's in LA. He's going to make a business or something there – something about helping the hopeless. Cordelia is working with him too, apparently. So that means that Xander –" I paused, startled. Cordy and Xander had been getting along ok lately; I wonder what happened.

"Buffy, I'm sorry," Faith said as she rested her forehead against mine.

"Spike's there too, apparently. Drusilla wanted to stick around Darla who's in LA, so that must mean that Angel and Darla are –" I stopped again. I couldn't say this out loud. Thankfully, I didn't have to because Faith knew what I meant.

"Buffy, it's not your fault. You said yourself that you thought he was leaving," suddenly, she realized that maybe I just said that to make myself feel better. Her eyes got very wide as she looked into mine. "I mean – you know, you can't – it's his fault!" she stuttered out.

Any other time, with any other subject, I would have laughed at her reaction – it was so unlike her – but not with this.

"Faith, he's already gone! He didn't even say goodbye, he just left!" I pushed the letter up against her; I didn't want it anymore. She looked at me questioningly. "You can read it," I muttered. She took the letter but kept looking at me, worry etched across her features. I leaned back against the doorframe. She put her arm around my waist and lifted me into her arms and carried me back into the living room. Gingerly, she set me down on the couch, and then sat down next to me and put her arms around me as she read. I was thankful for her touch; I don't think I would have handled this news as well had she not been present.

When she finished the letter, she put it down and wrapped her arms tighter around me.

"He wants you to be happy, Buffy. He said that he was doing it for your own good. I know it's painful, and obviously he's a jerk, but he does want you to be happy here. He's not wishing for your misery."

"Well then, it's a good thing I have you," I said sincerely. She laid her head gently against mine. I turned my head slightly so that she could see me smile. I turned a little in her arms so that I could lean back on her shoulder and nestle my head into her neck and hair. Once I was comfortable, she snuggled a little closer to me.

We dozed off like that for a while. When we woke up, had it been sunny, it would have been slightly past sunset. As it was, the rain still pounded against the window, but for now, the thunder was absent. Faith had woken up before I had, but she hadn't moved.

"Faith?" I said groggily.

"Right here, B. Do you need anything?"

"Can we go to The Bronze?" I asked. I wanted to get my mind off of Angel and anything that had to do with him or any other chaos that might be going on with my friends. I just wanted to go and dance and forget about everything else.

"Sure, B. Do you want to walk? It's still raining."

"Yeah, we can walk. It's not that far and it's not stormy anymore."

"Ok. Let me grab a jacket or somethin' first, alright?"

"The one you left here last time – the jean jacket – is in the coat closet," I said.

"Ok. Thanks."

Neither of us wanted to move. Finally, Faith moved her arms from around me and laid me back gently so that I was leaning on the back of the couch. She went to the closet and grabbed her coat and a waist-length black leather jacket that I had. She came back to the couch wearing her jacket, with mine in her hand.

"Come on, B. Let's go get our groove on," she smirked. I laughed. At least someone wanted to make me feel better.

We walked outside and paused on the porch for a moment. I made sure that I replaced the key under the mat. For a moment, we just stood there, looking out at the rain. Faith put her arm around me so that she had her hand on my opposite hip. She gave me a little half-hug and entwined our fingers before leading me out into the rain.

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To be continued.

What do you think? Reviews are adored! There's some Bronze action to come, so stay tuned! :] Also, for those of you wondering about Dawn's absence (since my "superb" summary said that she was to show up early), she is coming. At the current time, she's at Janice's house. I should have mentioned that earlier, but I just couldn't find a place to fit it in. There were too many great fuffy moments in this chapter that would have been ruined with the mention of annoying little sisters. :]


	4. The Bronze

Thanks to all my readers out there! I'm glad you're liking this so far.

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing. The songs belong to Garbage.

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When we got to the Bronze, I told Faith that I was going to grab some coffee and sit by the one window in the club. She begrudgingly left me to go dance, and told me that she'd be back soon to check on me. Once I had sat down by the window, there was a brilliant flash of light. I dismissed it as a camera flash, but it came again. Twice more. Lightening maybe? That's possible. I watched the sky, but I didn't notice the light flashes any more. Nor did I hear thunder. Then again, I probably wouldn't have heard a tornado if it came through over this crowd. This is one rowdy place tonight. Rasputina blares and strobe lights are flashing. Any other night, it would have given me a headache. Right now, I was thankful that the blaring music and flashing lights was driving away my all-too-present pain.

I ignored the odd lights. What damage could be done from some big Sunnydale evil tonight? Not much. It wasn't a full moon, not Halloween (after the past few years, I stopped believing the bunk that it was a supposed "demon holiday" where they all laid low), Ethan Rayne wasn't in town, and Spike and Angel were in LA. There was nothing that we had to worry about except your everyday evil vamps; so what's the big in going to The Bronze for a night? Apparently the reason wasn't very good because Giles just stuttered out something about research when I had said that Faith and Willow and I were planning a girl's day out. I am not the research girl. Don't people know that by now? My brawn is way bigger than my brain.

I can see Faith from where I am. I think that it's probably hard not to see her from anywhere in here. She takes the saying "dance like nobody's watching" to the extreme. Well, except, she dances like everybody's watching, which they are. Huh.

She dances well. Girl's got rhythm. Why am I contemplating the way Faith dances? Maybe because…no. No I am not going there. Shut off brain, just shut up or off, or…something. These pants are too tight. I tried to match Faith's style tonight; unfortunately, I just got as far as the tight pants. I'm wearing tight, low-cut jeans and a black lace shirt over a pink tank top. Faith is clothed in leather pants, black boots, and a red tank top and her jean jacket.

The song ends and she walks over and plops down in the chair across from me, much to the disappointment of the guys she was dancing by.

"Hey B," she said. It wasn't the least bit surprising to me that she wasn't winded. She was a slayer, after all. Everyone around her didn't know that though. If she had let them get close enough to her tonight, they would have been amazed. The fact that she wasn't dancing with anyone else – in fact, she had been making a point of dancing alone – made me wonder what she was thinking about tonight.

"Hi Fai. How was dancing?"

"Fai?"

"Uh, well, you need a nickname, and I'm not going to call you 'F'- it sounds weird."

"Uh-huh. Ok. Dancing was good. Those guys are all pervs though," she said slowly.

"Yeah, I've found that most guys are, except Giles. I'm not even sure Giles has a sex. I think he's just his own species," I'd been thinking about this a lot lately. Giles had just been so weird since the whole band candy thing.

Faith laughed. "That's probably true, B. He's alright though, for an old guy."

"Faith, are you thinking—?"

"What? Oh, jeez, B. Heck no. Giles is nice, but…no. He's –"

"Old?"

"Um, yeah."

"Yeah. He's been acting weird lately. I think he's really paranoid about something but I don't know what."

"Well there is an apocalypse every other month in this town. I guess he has a reason," Faith said, uncharacteristically thoughtful.

"Yeah. Faith, are you ok? You seem kinda…"

"Yeah, B, I'm five by five. Wanna dance?"

"Sure."

We walked out on the dance floor. Garbage was the next band up, and they played Til the Day that I Die first. Faith took my hand and led me to the middle of the crowd. She likes attention, that's for sure.

_I will love you 'til the day that I die_

_You walked into the room_

_The sun hit my eyes_

She looked down at me with a question burning behind her chocolate brown eyes. Slowly, I reached my hands up to rest on her shoulders.

_The force you struck me down caught me by surprise_

_You sprung the mojo and it worked like a charm_

_I felt invincible with you in my arms_

Just as slowly as I had, she placed her hands on my waist. She danced with me more gently than she did normally, as if she wasn't sure about what she was doing.

_I must confess it can feel good to feel pain_

_Like breaking waves or getting caught in the rain_

_Playing those games 'cause we had nothing to do_

_I was oblivious I was losing to you_

I looked steadily into her eyes, and she stared back into my own. It was odd to think about all the damage we had done, but we were still here, together. Dancing, no less.

_Oh I will love you 'til the day that I die_

_Holy Jesus_

_Holy rock 'n' roll_

_The more I gave to you the more you grew bored_

_And making love became the waging of war_

_No peace_

_No tenderness_

_No fun anymore_

She turned her head slowly away, and looked down at her feet. I kept searching her face, but she ignored me. She was acting very quiet for such a loud song.

_I will love you 'til the day that I die_

_I dreamt that I called out your name_

_You turned your face to me and started to say_

She brought her head up and looked at me, as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't.

_Something so beautiful it hurt deep inside_

_So I will love you 'til the day that I die_

_Farewell, farewell I'm sure going to leave you_

_I will love you 'til the day that I die_

The song ended, and Faith looked at me questioningly, as if she was wondering if I would go back and sit down. I wasn't, obviously. Heck, I was just warming up. Plus, this girl was hard to walk away from.

The next song played was Parade. It was one of Faith's favorite songs, so she danced a little harder. I turned around, and put my hands on hers, which were still resting tentatively on my hips. I took her hands and wrapped them around my stomach, keeping my hands on hers.

Her hips swayed side to side with the rhythm of the music, and after a while, her hips were against mine. We danced like we were one person instead of two.

_Get it right_

_Get it right now_

_Get it right_

_Do it good_

_Get it right now_

_Oh let's bomb the factory_

_That makes all the wannabes_

_Let's burst all the bubbles_

_That brainwash the masses_

_As far as I can tell _

_It doesn't matter who you are_

I moved my shoulders and hips to the rhythm, and leaned back against her, making her move with me. I was beginning to forget everything that I came here to forget.

_If you can believe there's something worth fighting for_

To my utter surprise, she bent and put her head on my shoulder. I leaned against her head softly, not wanting to startle her and make her move. She moved her face into my neck and quickly but tenderly kissed it. I jerked and almost banged my head into hers – I was so surprised. Thankfully, she didn't move away from me; she must have guessed the reason for my reaction.

_The color of an eye _

_The glory of the sudden view_

_The baby in your arms_

She pulled me back so that I was pressing further into her. I leaned my head back against her shoulder so that every part of me was pressed against her.

_The smile he always shoots at you_

_Believing in nothing_

_Makes life so boring_

_So let's pray for something_

_To feel good in the morning_

She slid her arms off of my stomach back onto my hips and turned me around. I put my hands back around her neck. She kept her hands on my back as mine trailed around her neck and played with her hair.

_As far as I can tell _

_It doesn't matter who you are_

_If you can believe there's something worth fighting for_

_The color of an eye _

_The glory of the sudden view_

_The baby in your arms_

_The smile he always shoots at you_

She was so gorgeous. It amazed me how the people around her could keep their hands off of her. Then again, they were all pretty distracted by the way the two of us were dancing together.

_Oh doctor_

_We're dying_

_There's no use in crying_

_So live for tomorrow and do what you have to_

She looked at me, gauging my expression. She seemed frightened at the emotions that I might show. I smiled softly up at her and she seemed to relax a little.

Drive You Home came on next. Faith moved to go sit down or get a drink or just get away from the slow song on the dance floor, but I grabbed her wrist. She gave me an odd look, but she turned back so she was facing me.

Once again being careful so I didn't scare her off, I put my hands around her neck, and stared up into her eyes. At first, she didn't respond, but after a moment she put her hands around my waist.

_It's funny how_

_Even now_

_You still support me after all the things that I've done_

_You're so good to me_

_Waiting patiently_

_And isn't it sad that you still have to ask if I care?_

_I never said I was perfect_

After a few moments, I moved my arms under hers and my hands down so that they were resting on her lower back, and I rested my head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms tighter around me and slid her thumbs into the back belt loop of my jeans.

_But I can take you away_

_Walk on shells tonight_

_Can't do right tonight_

_And you can't say a word_

_Cause I leap down your throat_

_So uptight am I_

_I never said I was perfect_

_But I can drive you home_

_I got down on myself_

_Working too hard_

_Driving myself to death_

_Trying to beat out the faults in my head_

_What a mess I've made_

_Sure we all make mistakes_

_But they see me so large that they think I'm immune to the pain_

_I'm praying for a miracle_

_But I won't hold my breath_

_I never said I was perfect_

_But can you take me home_

It seemed that the song had been written just for us. We had stayed in the same position until the song had ended, much to the envy of many of the people around us.

Faith was the one to grab my wrist this time, and we walked outside, back into the rain.

"Buffy, I-" Faith started. I didn't let her finish.

"Faith, I don't know how you feel, but –"

---

Ah, good old cliffhangers. Don't worry, as long as my computer doesn't feel like tormenting my with its usual malfunctions, I'll update more tomorrow.


	5. Just Talk

"Faith, I don't know how you feel, but –"

"NO, B!" She shouted. I jumped, surprised, but she continued anyway, "Just…Don't, ok? Everybody…" she was quieter, but her voice was still solid, despite the fact that she was tearing up. "Everybody that I care about either leaves or dies, so I realized that it's just easier if you hate me, Buffy. This was…it should stop."

"What?" I was incredulous. "Faith, I'm not – I don't hate you. And don't tell me that I should because I can't!"

"Buffy, you don't understand! EVERYONE I LOVE DIES. It doesn't matter who they are – my mom, my watcher, everyone. You can't be one of those people. Don't you get it? I need you!" she was crying now.

I was near shouting by this time, "Faith, you think you need me? I need you! You'll always have admirers and guys and freedom and I'm stuck in this stupid little town. There's nothing that stops you from leaving and that scares me to death. What I _should_ do is kind of irrelevant by this time. It's too late. Angel's gone and you said yourself that he wanted me to be happy here, and I can't be without you."

She looked at me, surprised. She didn't believe me.

"Fai, come on baby. Let's just go home and talk about this, ok?" I asked more gently, trying not to feed her disbelief or make her run. She didn't respond, instead, she looked like she was going to fall over. I stood closer to her and wrapped my arms around her. She didn't tense up, but she didn't hug me back; she just leaned into me. I figured that it was probably pretty normal, given the situation. I kept one arm around her waist and she leaned against me as we walked away from The Bronze.

---

I know, I know, this chapter's really short. I had to split up the last one so I had a bit of suspense because there won't be much of that for a while. Don't worry though! I'm updating two chapters at a time, so don't get your panties in a twist. haha. Thank you all for reading, your reviews are so encouraging.


	6. Quality Slayer Time

For all you Dawn fans out there, she shows up in this chapter. There are some really sweet fuffy moments here too. I know, I'll be quiet now. No spoilers :]

---

We got home, but we hadn't talked the whole way. I didn't really mind; I'd just as well finish our discussion where the occasional pedestrian or vamp couldn't hear. When we got on the porch, I paused and wiped her tears and the rain from her face. I led her over to the porch swing and sat her down so I had one arm around her and she was leaning against me.

Neither of us said anything for a while; we just enjoyed sitting in each other's arms before something inevitably broke us apart.

"Faith, I love you. Maybe it's not what you want, but it's how I really feel. I wouldn't lie to you or anything. I love you," I was the first to break the silence. "I know that you're all 'independent girl' and all, but I hope you decide to stay here, with me. You could –"

"Buffy, you…I don't know how. I've done so many things and I don't know how you can love me. No one's ever really loved me," she said almost inaudibly.

"I love you because you are the way you are. I know that sounds cliché, but it's true. The experiences you've had have shaped you into the person you are. I might not like some of them, but I love you," I was speaking so truthfully that my blunt honesty surprised even myself.

She spoke so quietly that I almost didn't hear her. "But I'm scared, Buffy. I'm scared that I'll mess it up, or leave, or you'll leave, or die." I knew she needed to say this so I didn't stop her. "I love you too, Buffy. But I don't know…I've never been in a relationship or anything and it scares me."

I put my other arm around her and hugged her closer to me. She rested her head tentatively on my shoulder but she was very tense, so I knew that she couldn't be comfortable. I rubbed her back and shoulder gently.

"Fai, it's ok. I don't know how this stuff works either. We'll get through it together, I promise. I'm not planning on dying again any time soon," Faith laughed softly, without much humor. "But I'm not going to leave. I don't think I could. Will you stay here tonight? Do you want to go to your motel room, or would you stay here with me? I can sleep on the couch or something; you can have my bed."

"I don't want to leave," she said softly.

"Ok, baby. Let's go inside, ok?"

"Mm. I'm tired."

"Did you wear yourself out dancing? I know you wore those guys out," I said carefully. I didn't know how she could love me when she had her constant pick of guys, and the sexual experience to deal with them. She seemed to know what I was thinking.

"Buffy, I love you. I don't want any of those pervs, ok? I want to stay here, with you."

I was tearing up at her sweet words by this time. She noticed when I didn't respond and she sat up a little straighter in my arms so that she could see my face.

"Jeez, I'm sorry B, I…I didn't mean to say anything bad. I –"

"No, no Faith. Happy tears," I smiled. She was so cute when she was worried. "Happy tears," I repeated. She looked at me quizzically, but she smiled too. Now it was her turn to wipe my tears. She was very gentle. No one would have believed it from seeing her attitude or watching her dance without me.

I watched her expression for a while, and then started to get up. This was more difficult than I had thought because I still had my arms around her. I ended up getting my butt about two inches off the chair, and then plopping back down again. She grinned at me and disentangled herself from my arms, getting up. I frowned at her, not liking that she wasn't by me anymore. Suddenly, she grabbed me by the waist and pulled me up off the swing – right into her. She wrapped her arms around my shorter body and rested her cheek on the crown of my head. I really loved this girl.

I put my arms around her too. After a few moments, I started shuffling us towards the door. She moved her arms so that we could walk, but still hold onto each other. I grabbed the key from under the rug and unlocked the door. Faith moved again and this time she picked me up. I glanced up at her, and she tried to shrug but it was difficult when she had me in her arms. I laughed at the strained gesture.

We walked through the door and I closed it behind us and locked it again. She put me down and we headed upstairs.

Unfortunately, I noticed too late that the kitchen light was on, so someone must be up. As my foot hit the second stair, I heard a voice behind us – I almost tripped up the stairs. My sister is going to inadvertently kill me one day soon.

"Buffy? Faith? You guys are all wet." It was Dawn, clad in Mickey Mouse flannel pants and a yellow tank top.

"Yeah, little D, it's us. Isn't it past your bedtime or somethin'?" Faith asked accusingly.

"I had a bad dream, and Mom's not home, so I came downstairs to get a warm glass of milk." I gagged at the latter part of my little sister's statement. Dawn frowned at me. Suddenly, her expression changed to one of utter excitement. I looked on worriedly as my sister spoke. "Are you – Faith, are you staying overnight? Because that would be so cool! We could watch a movie and have popcorn and –"

"Dawn, Faith is staying, but we're pretty tired. I think we might just go to bed," I said rather hurriedly. Dawn gave me a disappointed look.

"Oh, well…ok. I'll just…go sit in the kitchen for a while then," she said lamely.

"Alright. Mom should be home soon. She said she'd be home sometime tonight," I said, anxious to get upstairs and dry off.

"Yeah," Dawn said.

"Goodnight, little D," Faith said kindly. Before I knew what was happening, Dawn had given me a hug and had moved on to give Faith one too. Faith wrapped her arms around Dawn gently and hugged her back. Her hug was longer than the one I got. Not that I'm jealous.

Faith and I turned to continue up the stairs, and to my surprise, Dawn hugged me again from behind.

"I love you, Buffy," she said.

"I love too, Dawnie. Goodnight." Faith looked touched at our brief show of sisterly affection. Before she knew it, she was being hugged again. I smiled.

"I love you too, Faith. I'm glad you're staying here," Dawn said quietly.

"I love you too, Dawn, and I'm glad I'm here too," Faith said softly, and she glanced at me and then grinned down at Dawn. "No more bad dreams, ok? The big ol' slayers in the house will chase them away." Dawn smiled and bounced back into the kitchen to heat up more milk. Gross.

Faith gently took my hand and entwined our fingers. I led her upstairs quickly. I didn't want to have to have a conversation with my mom if she came home soon. I just wanted to go to sleep. When we got to my room, Faith snapped me out of my temporary reverie.

"Uh, B? I don't have any – uh – pajamas or anything." I felt stupid for not thinking of this before.

"Oh. Well, I probably have something that will fit you, if you don't mind, you know…"

Faith smiled at me. "Thanks B. For letting me stay here and all, and for going dancing with me; I think we had a fun girls day, even without Willow."

I smiled too. "Yeah we did. I wonder what happened to her today anyway. I'll have to give her a call tomorrow."

"Maybe she had a hot date," Faith said, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows for emphasis.

"Willow? I don't know. Maybe. Her and Oz have seemed pretty tight lately."

"See, nothin' to worry about. Girl's gotta have a little fun every now and then," she said and took a step closer to me. I grinned innocently up at her, and then leaned up slightly and kissed her nose on impulse. She blushed. I didn't think Faith could be self-conscious enough to blush. I knew she was searching for something to say, but nothing could break her out of her surprised state.

I spun around quickly and fished a couple pairs of sweatpants and a couple tank tops from my dresser. I quickly realized that both of us were still soaking wet from the rain, and I for one was freezing.

"Oh, we're still wet," I said lamely. Faith laughed.

"Nice work, Captain Obvious," she kept laughing. I was surprised that she hadn't made some kind of sexual remark.

"Well there are towels in the bathroom, if you want to change in there."

Faith gratefully took the plaid pants and black tank top that I handed her and went to the bathroom to change. I grabbed a towel that I had left on my bed that morning after taking a shower, and dried myself off before donning light blue-checkered sweatpants and a white tank top that had a few bunnies on the front. I ran a hairbrush through my hair before squeezing the water out with the towel. Faith came back in, closed the door behind her and turned to face me. She looked me over and then grinned at my choice of sleepwear.

"What?" I asked defensively. "I haven't been able to wear the shirt in public since Anya's been around – she always spazzes about it." Faith kept grinning. "What?" I asked again.

"Nothin', B. I just…love you. That's all."

I looked at her. She looked so beautiful, even in my frumpy old clothes.

"I love you too, Faith," I said. She noticed me staring at her and she moved out of my line of view to sit down on my bed, and then prop herself up with my pillows.

"I – uh – well, I guess I'll just go sleep on the couch downstairs," I said with a dejected sigh. Faith looked at me oddly.

"Well, at least give me a hug goodnight," she said. How uncharacteristic of her. I mentally shrugged it off and set my towel down on my desk chair and walked over to her. As I bent down to hug her, she put her hands tenderly on my hips and pulled me down on the bed next to her. I closed my eyes and leaned my head on her chest. So that was her ulterior motive.

"Stay here? With me?" she asked.

"Mm. I couldn't leave now if I wanted to," I said. I pulled myself out of her grasp long enough to pull the blankets out from under us, and then back on top of us. She fluffed up the pillows and moved Mr. Gordo so that we could lie down. She lay down on her back and looked up at me. I was still sitting up, looking unsure.

"What's up, B? Something wrong?" She asked, once again concerned. Before I could say anything, she seemed to realize my hesitance, and she sat up next to me.

"Look, B, if you don't want to stay here, that's fine. I can go sleep on the couch too."

"What? No! I want to stay here, I just…I've never done this kind of thing before with the relationship and the – and you have and…I just don't know –"

"Buffy, I don't expect anything from you, ok?" she reached up and tenderly brushed my cheek with her hand. "I love you, and I just want to be close to you, ok?"

I leaned into her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around me and carefully lay down so that I was still wrapped in her arms, with my head on her chest and one arm slung over her stomach.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah?" I asked, surprised that she had spoken.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Loving me."

I sat up on my elbow slightly to look into her deep, chocolate brown eyes. There was pain in them, something I hardly seemed to notice on any other day. I leaned down and kissed the little spot just above the bridge of her nose. She shivered slightly under my touch, and I lay back down and wrapped my arms more tightly around her.

"I'll always love you, Fai; always and forever."

"Goodnight, baby," she said quietly.

I fell asleep listening to the steady beating of her heart.

---

Aww, what a perfect ending, right? Well folks, this is NOT the end of this story! No sir. There are many chapters to come, the next will be on it's way tomorrow. I'm going to a book signing so I won't be able to write tomorrow, but I have a few more chapters that are ready to post :] I just enjoy making all of you wait. Mwa ha ha. I got bored of writing from Buffy's point of view, so the next few chapters will be switching around with different characters, just to warn you. Thanks for reading! And please, please, please review! I love reading all your comments; they're very inspirational.


	7. Big Sister Faith

Faith's Point of View

I started when I heard a quiet knock on the door. I hadn't really been sleeping; just dozing and watching B sleep. We didn't have to get up in the morning or anything because tomorrow was Saturday. Anyway, I was right at that point between sleeping and being awake – the point when you find that your thoughts are slowing down and it's harder to switch subjects to the thing you want to think about when you fall asleep completely – when I heard the knock.

Just as I was about to call out, Dawn's little voice came through the door.

"Faith? Are you awake?" she sounded scared. I cleared my throat so I wouldn't sound groggy.

"Yeah little D, I'm here. Come on in." I shifted my weight on the bed a little bit so I scooted Buffy to the far edge, and I was in the middle, with enough room for Dawn on the end. Dawn came in and closed the door softly behind her. I could tell in the moonlight that was coming in from the window that she had tear streaks trailing down her cheeks. Poor kid.

Dawn walked over and paused next to the bed. I shifted again so that I was propped up on pillows, somewhat sitting up. I moved my arm that had been around Buffy and motioned to Dawn to sit down. She hovered at the edge for a moment more.

"I had another bad dream and Mom's still not home," she said softly and she tried to speak as though she hadn't been crying, but she still hiccupped every few words. Finally she sat down on the bed and laid her head on my shoulder. Buffy's head had migrated a little so that it was on my stomach, and her arm was around my thigh. One of Dawn's arms curled up and the other she laid tentatively across my upper stomach – just above Buffy's head. I wrapped my arm tightly around Dawn's back and hugged her to me.

"Do you remember what you dreamed about? I don't always remember what my dreams are, but if you remember, you can tell me."

"I – I don't remember. But it was scary," she hiccupped. I hugged her a little tighter and kissed the top of her head. With my other hand, I absently rubbed B's back.

Dawn kept hiccupping for a while. I felt bad for her. I remembered having lots of nightmares when I was a kid – even before I got the hand-me-down slayer dreams – and those were scary enough. When I thought that Dawn had finally fallen asleep, she spoke quietly.

"You love her, don't you? Buffy, I mean," she said, her voice heavy with oncoming sleep.

"Yes I do, Dawn. I love her a lot. Is that alright with you?"

"Mm. Yeah. Just…be nicer to her than Angel was, ok?" I wondered if Dawn had found the letter. I thought that Buffy had left it on the coffee table after I had put it down.

I smiled. "No problem, little D. I'm not going to hurt your big sis."

"Good. You know, you're my big sister too," she said.

"Thanks Dusk. I always wanted a little sister, so I'm glad I finally got one." I felt her smile into my shoulder. "Goodnight, Dawn. I love you."

"I love you too, Faith." Soon after, she was asleep.

I stayed awake for a long time after that. I wasn't restless; I could have slept if I wanted to, but I didn't want this particular moment to end. It looked like my life was finally taking a turn for the better, and I loved it. I never wanted it to change. I wrapped my arms tighter around both of the girls in my arms, and eventually I drifted off to sleep.

---

I know that Faith's been out of character in the last chapter or two, so I hope this is a little better. Let me know what you think.


	8. Mom's Home

Joyce's Point of View

Oh, what a long day – much too long. My eyes are becoming unfocused as I drive. I'm almost home. I passed the Sunnydale sign a couple of miles back, so now it'll just be a few minutes before I get home. I hope that Buffy got Dawn into bed on time. Maybe she stayed over at Janice's. I can't remember what my girls are doing any more. Work is wearing me down.

I finally pulled into the driveway. I decided to unload the car tomorrow; it could sit out overnight and still be ok. It was almost midnight by now anyway, so I wouldn't be leaving it out that long.

I got out of the car and headed for the house. Thanks to Buffy's many warnings, I looked around for vampires before I did so.

I walked to the door and glanced around again before unlocking it and quickly going inside and relocking the door. I leaned back against the door and sighed. Walking around at night always made me nervous, especially after learning what lurks in Sunnydale after dark.

I put my purse on the kitchen counter and hung my jacket over a kitchen chair. I noticed that the extra front door key was sitting on the counter so I knew that Buffy was home, but next to the spare key were Faith's keys. I could tell that they were hers because one of the keychains had her motel room logo emblazoned on it. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but I was too tired to really wonder about it. At least she was here tonight, somewhere safe, and not out with some troublemakers.

I walked zombie-like up the stairs, but I started when I saw that Dawn's door was ajar. She usually kept it closed tight. I peeked in the door and became even more surprised when I saw that Dawn's covers were turned back and she was nowhere to be seen. I looked back into the hall, but the bathroom door was open, so my little girl wasn't in there.

I walked down the hall, ready to burst in on Buffy's room, and ask her where Dawn could have gone or gotten taken to, but in a moment of clarity, I decided to open Buffy's door slowly so I didn't startle her. When I did so, I looked in on a surprising scene.

Faith was half sitting, half lying down on the bed, propped up on a few pillows and Buffy's stuffed pig. She had one arm around Buffy, who had her head on Faith's stomach, and one arm around her leg, and Faith's other arm – to my immediate relief – was wrapped around Dawn, who was lying with her head propped on Faith's shoulder.

Dawn stirred slightly in her sleep, wrapping her arm tighter around Faith. After a moment, Buffy did the same, snuggling further into the blankets around Faith's hip. Before any of them woke up, I decided to leave. I closed the door quietly behind me and went into my own room. I was so tired that I didn't even have the energy to change clothes. I took off my jacket and shoes and lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

---

How'd I do with Mom's point of view?


	9. Mornings Grr

Dawn's Point of View

Oh man. I really hate waking up. I guess I'm just a typical lazy teenager. When I finally opened my eyes, I had to take a minute to figure out just where the heck I was. Then I remembered Buffy and Faith coming home, and going to bed. I remembered getting another glass of milk and drinking it very slowly, hoping that Mom would come home, but she didn't. I remembered finally falling asleep on the couch, and then having another nightmare; I had gone upstairs to find out that Mom still wasn't home, so I went and talked to Faith for a little bit. I had fallen asleep in Buffy's room, all cuddled up with Faith and Buffy.

It was nice and warm here. There was a bird perched on the windowsill just outside Buffy's closed window. It was chirping incessantly – that must have been what woke me up. Stupid bird. It should have known that I wanted to sleep forever.

I tried to roll over; my side sort of ached from not changing position all night. Trying to move was pretty much a failure. Faith was still asleep and she had her arm pinning me against her. Not that I really minded, it was comfy, but I was starting to realize that I had to pee – too much milk last night.

I was going to try to wake her up, but I thought better of it. I knew the consequences of waking up a slayer. I debated. Wake Faith up, which will surely wake Buffy, therefore ending in my disembowelment, or try to shuffle out of Faith's grip a little so that I was at least a bit more comfortable. Option number two could end up just where option number one would, but I thought I'd take the chance.

I tried to figure out where I could move without actually turning my head. I had my head on Faith's shoulder – I could hear her heartbeat. My arm was slung across her stomach, and Buffy's head was just below that. I decided that maybe I could just turn over so that I was facing away from the sister slayers – my sisters. I was just about to move when Faith shifted slightly; she was waking up. I held still, wondering what she would do when she woke up.


	10. A Little Early Morning Fun

The rating might be a little stronger for this chapter. Not by much though. Just a warning.

---

Faith's Point of View

Waking up is not the most enjoyable process. Especially when you've lived the crummy life that I have – when you usually wake up in some fleabag's bed, or some no-tell motel. Waking up this morning wasn't really any different, until I realized where I was.

I tried to roll over when I realized that I was pinned down. I started freaking out for a moment, wondering where I was, when I remembered what had happened last night. I opened my eyes slowly and stared at the dawn-illuminated ceiling. The first thing I noticed was that the person Dawn was laying on my shoulder, preventing me from rubbing the sleep out of my eyes with my arm. I glanced down at her and noticed that she was awake. Buffy, however, was nowhere near waking up, it seemed.

I loosened my grip on Dawn; I was sure that she'd want to get up. She looked up at me and whispered her thanks – apparently she didn't want to wake Buffy up. She half hugged me and then got up and tiptoed out of the room. She probably had to pee like a racehorse after all that milk she drank last night. She had closed the door softly on her way out, but the small noise and motion of the bed had made Buffy stir.

I stayed still, letting her wake up in her own time. Blearily, she looked up at me and then settled with her head on my shoulder, and her arm still resting on my leg. I turned my head, with some difficulty due to my neck's stiffness, and kissed her forehead.

"Morning, babe," she said, her voice still sleepy. For a minute, I couldn't say anything. She noticed when I didn't respond.

"You've never had anyone say that to you before, have you?" she asked. She leaned back slightly in my arms so that she could look me in the eyes. "Is this the best bed that you've ever woken up in?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah, B, it is; by far. Good morning to you too, babe," I smiled genuinely. She grinned and moved her head back to rest in the crook of my neck. Her hair smelled like apple blossoms; I smiled into it. We lay there for a few minutes, just enjoying being so comfortable with each other. Eventually, I had to roll over; my back was just as stiff as my neck from lack of motion during the night.

I turned over so that I was facing Buffy. She looked slightly startled, then smirked and it took me a moment to figure out that her expression was due to the fact that her hand was now pinned between my thighs. I chuckled, but didn't move. I wrapped my arms tighter around her – one underneath her neck, and one across her other arm and waist. She smiled and snuggled in closer to my chest. After a moment, she started rubbing her thumb hesitantly back and forth against my leg. I flinched under her touch – it tickled. Well that's just great. Perceptive little Buffy was bound to notice and exploit my new found weakness. To my surprise she just looked up at me, confused.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked. "It tickled, ok?" I was kind of perturbed at having to explain my involuntary action. Once again surprising me, she looked relieved.

"Oh. I thought you…that you didn't like it or something," she said, looking down bashfully. I laughed lightly. She looked up at me, startled once again.

"How could you possibly think that? I mean, I guess 'cause I moved, but I love you Buffy. I'm not going to flinch away from you voluntarily," I stated honestly. She smiled slowly.

"Hmm," she said, with a huge grin on her face. I looked at her, puzzled for a moment. Then I picked up on her train of thought, and a smirk spread itself across my face before I could stop it.

"So, if I do something like this," she drummed her fingers into my leg quickly and I flinched, "it tickles. But if I do something like this," she moved her fingers slowly down towards my knees and back up again, "it feels ok, right?" she asked. I just stared down at her, my stupid smirk still firmly intact.

"Yeah," I said slowly, lingering on the word. "So, you aren't ticklish or anything? No hidden weaknesses that I should know about?" I asked.

"Hmm. You might just have to figure that one out for yourself," she said slyly. I took her suggestion and let my hand wander from her waist, down to her knee, and let it slowly trail back up to her hip. She shivered under my light touch, but she didn't jerk or flinch like I had, so I guessed that she wasn't ticklish – not on her legs at least.

"Interesting," I said, drawing out the word. She murmured something unintelligible and burrowed her head back beneath my chin – still not moving her hand. I kissed the top of her head. We didn't say anything else for a while. I traced light patterns with my fingertips across her exposed skin just above her waist. She murmured into my chest again.

"What was that, B?" I asked. She pulled her head slightly away from my chest to answer me.

"You smell good, and that feels really good," she said.

"Oh. Uh – thanks. I guess," I whispered. I knew she could hear my every word clearly because she was so close to my chest. She looked up at me through her eyelashes. "What?" I asked. She got this little mischievous grin on her face as she leaned up to whisper in my ear.

"I love you, Fai," she said softly. Then she did something that I hadn't really expected – she shifted slightly so that she could kiss the bottom of my jaw, slightly below my ear. She nibbled at the spot, then licked it a little, and then kissed it again. She started doing this all the way down my neck. I whimpered. She paused in her ministrations long enough to look up at me and make sure that what she was doing was ok.

I moved my hand (the one that had been resting on her side) to her lower back, and I moved my arm that was beneath her to hold her tighter to me. This action ended in another little action that I hadn't expected. Buffy pushed back into me slightly, tipping me onto my back, with her on top of me.

She moved her legs slightly so that she was laying more on my one leg than the other. She gave me another little grin before leaning up slightly so that she could reach my neck with her lips again. She shifted her body slightly so that she had one leg slung over my hips, along with one of her arms. She traced small patterns with her fingers from my hip to my stomach, and back again, as she continued to kiss and nibble at my neck. She rested her other hand gently on my shoulder, rubbing her thumb slowly back and forth across its surface. It felt absolutely incredible. She looked up at me slightly before moving her caresses down to my collarbone.

"OH. MY. GOD!" Dawn shrieked. She had walked back into the room and I hadn't noticed at all. I had forgotten about everything else except Buffy. Shit. Buffy and I both screeched, and tried to jump up, ending up in us knocking our heads together painfully and sinking back into the same position.

"Oh my gosh! You guys! AHHH!" I couldn't tell if she was excited to actually see some action around here, or if we had scarred her for life.

"Oh god," Buffy swore under her breath, starting to panic. "Dawn, Dawnie, I – we – what I mean is –" she tried to scramble off of me again, but I had looked at Dawn's expression more closely and realized what she was thinking, and I held Buffy still against me.

"Shh, B. Just be quiet for a minute," Buffy looked at me, confused, and then looked at Dawn, and then back at me. "Shh," I repeated softly. I knew Dawn would say something else, and I waited.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are so perfect for each other!" she squealed. "Is Angel really gone?" she asked excitedly. My suspicions that she had read the letter last night were confirmed. B was stunned into silence, and so I answered the excited teen.

"Yeah Dusk," I said, grinning, "Fang's gone," I smiled wider at Buffy's growing look of startled confusion. This statement drew yet another excited shriek from Dawn.

"Oh my gosh! So you guys are really – AHHH! I'm so excited!" she said, waving her lanky arms around for emphasis, accidentally hitting one on the doorframe. "Ow!" she yelled.

Buffy came to her senses suddenly and her eyes grew wide. "Dawn, Dawnie stop screaming! You're going to wake M–"

Suddenly, Joyce flew into the room behind her younger daughter. "Dawn, what's happened? Why are you screaming?" she asked, frantically looking her over for injuries – and completely ignoring the older girls on the bed. Buffy's face quickly molded back into an expression of open-mouthed shock. Once Joyce had determined that her youngest daughter was unharmed, she looked towards her oldest daughter – and the bed. And me – me in the bed, with my arms wrapped around her eldest daughter who was still straddling my waist.

Joyce looked from Buffy, to me, to Dawn again, and then back at me. And then she started to laugh. I joined Buffy in her open-mouthed, shocked expression. Soon, Dawn couldn't help but start laughing with her mother. B and I stared at them, disbelief and confusion etched in our faces.

After a few minutes of giggling, and through a few prolonging snorts, Joyce explained her hysteria.

"Oh my. Dawn, you're surprised," she said plainly to her youngest daughter, gesturing to B and I on the bed. Dawn nodded, still grinning and snickering with her mother. "Well I'm not," B's jaw dropped down a little lower. So did mine, I'm sure. Joyce looked at both of us in turn before speaking again with a more serious tone. "Girls, I've known that you've had feelings for each other for a long time. Apparently you didn't, and maybe it's just mother's intuition, but I knew." B and I looked at each other, and then back at Joyce, our mouths still hanging open. Joyce chuckled a little at our expressions and then took Dawn by the shoulders and led her out of the room. Before she closed the door, she looked back at us once more.

"Breakfast is ready, any time you girls feel like coming downstairs," she said, and closed the door softly. As Buffy and I listened to their footsteps fade down the hall, we relaxed a little. I laid my head back on the pillow and sighed. Buffy took a moment more to relax, and then she melted into me, laying her head on my chest. B spoke up almost immediately.

"What just happened?" she asked, needing reassurance.

"Well B, we were busy and all wrapped up in hormones, and all of a sudden your little sis pops in, scaring the crap out of me, for one. Then your mom comes in, and I think she's gonna yell and kick me out of the house for the attempted molestation of her oldest daughter, but instead she stands there and laughs and said she knew it all along. Is that a good enough re-cap?"

"Um, yeah," she paused. "Faith, what just happened?" she asked again. I laughed.

"Come here, Buffy," I said. She looked up at me, but didn't move any more. I put my hands around her waist and pulled her up so that her head was even with mine. She laid her head down on the pillow next to me, looking me in the eyes. She brought her hand up and touched my cheek lovingly.

"I love you Faith. I hope you know that." I continued to trace patterns across her back as she spoke. "I know that a lot of stuff has happened to you, and maybe you'll feel safe enough to share it with me some day, but for now, it's ok. Alright?" I looked at her, and I knew that she wanted me to trust her. I had a lot of trust issues that I had to work on, and it made my stomach knot to think of them. "I love you," she repeated. I smiled at her; that was the only reaction that I had. I closed my eyes and just lay there for a moment.

"I love you too Buffy." I felt her shift a little in my arms, but I didn't realize what she was about to do.

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Ooo...what's going to happen now? You'll just have to keep reading to find out :] Tell me what you think of this chapter. Personally, it's one of my favorites so far. Also, I know that they're moving rather fast here, but that'll be explained, or...discussed at least.


	11. Morning Kisses

Buffy's Point of View

This has been a really weird morning. I was awake for maybe five glorious minutes before chaos ensued, but now, thankfully, it's peaceful again. I'm just lying in Faith's arms. She looks so peaceful with her eyes closed. I know she isn't sleeping. I think she's just trying to preserve the moment in her mind. I know I am.

I told her that I love her, and that she can talk to me and trust me with stuff, but I think it'll take some time. Although, her tough girl act melts pretty fast when she's with me. I think she tries to impress everyone else with it, but lets me see the real her. I hope that's what it's like at least.

I watched her for a minute and pondered our fast-moving relationship. This had all started last night. I was glad though – I didn't have to worry about covering up my feelings about Faith from Angel. I was starting to feel relieved that he was gone, even though I had loved him. I just loved Faith more, or deeper or something. I have got to work on my romance skills.

I thought about all the guys she had been with. It seemed as though she understood physical gestures and touches more than words – then something occurred to me. We hadn't really kissed yet – not on the lips at least. Suddenly, I wanted very much to kiss the girl whose arms were wrapped around me. I didn't think about it very much because I figured that I would lose my nerve.

Faith's Point of View

All of a sudden, I felt Buffy's hair brush my cheek, and then I felt her lips on mine. The contact was very short – she pulled away almost instantly, but only about an inch.

Buffy's Point of View

Oh god. What did I just do? She hates it. She's going to hate me. Oh god, oh god, oh… Oh damn it. She's looking all confused and surprised and she got all tense and oh no, no, bad Buffy. Bad, bad Buffy.

What the hell? Now she's all relaxed and–

Faith's Point of View

Oh no. She looks all scared like I'm going to hate her. Why is she so timid all of a sudden? Oh, I guess because I'm tense and looking confused. Oh no she's going to flip out and move and oh I better just kiss her back because otherwise she's going to move–

Buffy's Point of View

Hot damn. Oh… The slayer bond is even stronger when stuff like this happens. I can feel her fire spreading all over me. She's gentle, but at the same time, not. She didn't really get into it for a moment there – she just kind of pecked me like I had done to her. But now…

Faith's Point of View

Damn. Did she kiss Angel like this? I hope she saved this just for me. I love this girl. I've never met anyone else like her. I really love her.

She's moving away from me now, but it's only so she can regain her breath.

"C'mon B," I gasped as she panted, "Oxygen is overrated." She smiled down at me.

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What did everybody think of this chapter? I know it's short, but hopefully the content made up for that. Let me know what you think please! Review, review, review!


	12. Mother Always Knows

Hello all. Sorry I haven't updated for a couple days. Life's been crazy. But I'm writing more as we speak - well, as I write and you read. For those of you wondering, the whole Band Candy fiasco happened already.

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Joyce's Point of View

I should talk to Buffy and Faith separately. Give them a little motherly advice. Goodness knows that Buffy could use some. The only relationship she's ever been in was with a dead – excuse me, undead – man who had a bicentennial birthday. I know about Angel, I just hope that they didn't do anything that they'll – well, Buffy will – regret. She tried to hide it from me, but a mother always knows. Plus, I found that letter that must have arrived for Buffy yesterday. She just let it sit on the coffee table! When I was that age, I was sneaky. She doesn't need to know that, of course. Ha. There is some information that is best left unknown.

I feel sorry for Buffy, but Angel did appear to be leaving for her own good. At least he did something right. He wanted her to be happy, the letter said. I think she will be. I think she's found something in Faith that she's been looking for. I hope, anyway. I'll feel better about it if Faith is here more; I think Buffy is a good influence. I've noticed that Faith seems to drop her tough girl act when she's around Buffy lately. Maybe she's letting Buffy see the real her. It seems that she's doing it around Dawn too. I wonder if Faith will talk to me, or if she'll just think I'm another nosy adult and disregard everything that I say. She seems to listen to Rupert once and a while, from what he's told me.

I wonder if the girls know about…no Joyce. Stop that. Don't even think about it. If you don't think about it, it's like it didn't happen. All of this repressing can't be good for me. Buffy must wonder why I appear to ignore most of the goings on in this town. Or maybe she can see right through the charade? Hmm.

Dawn's Point of View

Mom looks like she's deep in thought. We just came down to the kitchen, and she's leaning up against the sink, sipping her orange juice with a spaced-out look on her face. Oh well. It's Mom. I don't want to know what her thoughts are. I don't really want to know what anybody's thoughts are. Buffy and Faith's are probably constantly about sex. Eww. Oh god! What if Mom's thinking about sex?

Thank goodness! I hear Faith coming down the stairs – a welcome distraction.

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Sorry this is so short! There's more to come, and soon! I promise!


	13. Sister Moment

Another short chapter, but there's a long one to come after this!

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Faith's Point of View

Damn, that was some kiss. Nobody's ever kissed me where it felt like _that_. I just left Buffy upstairs – she wanted to get ready or whatever before breakfast. I figure that I can get ready after some much-needed food. I'm starved.

My foot had barely reached the third stair before I heard Dawn squealing from the kitchen. I love the kid, but she's definitely got a voice box on her.

Man, these Summers gals are really unpredictable. One minute, Dawn's hugging me and jumping up and down around me and the next she's all quiet and looking at me sheepishly.

"Uh, hey Dusk. What's up?" I asked carefully.

"Well, I didn't – uh – I didn't really get to thank you for talking to me and stuff last night. You made me feel a lot better, and I slept pretty well, so…thanks."

"C'mon, Dawn. Let's go sit on the couch for a minute. I've got something I wanna talk to you about."

Buffy's Point of View

The scene I stumbled on when I walked down the stairs and looked into the living room was surprising. Faith was sitting in the middle of the couch, and Dawn was sitting cradled in Faith's lap. Faith had her arms wrapped tightly around Dawn and was talking to her quietly. I figured that it was their conversation, so I would leave them alone.

I turned to go back into the kitchen, and almost screeched when I ran straight into my mom. She had been standing quietly behind me, taking in the scene. She looked down at me and smiled, then looked back over my shoulder to take a last look at Faith and Dawn on the couch. I looked too, but I didn't protest when Mom took me gently by the elbow and led me back into the kitchen.

Joyce's Point of View

I really am getting tired of all the interruptions in this house. I was just about to have a talk with Buffy, and the phone rings. Will it never end?


	14. Friendly Interruptions

Buffy's Point of View

Oo! Phone call! I hope it's Willow.

"Hello?"

"Hey Buff, it's me." Willow replied. "Whatcha up to?"

"Um, well I was about to have breakfast. It looks like Mom made pancakes."

"Mmm. Your mom makes the best food," Will said. I laughed.

"Hey, Mom! It's Willow on the phone. She wants some of your cooking," I said. Mom smiled.

"Well, she's welcome to come over and have some. There's plenty to go around. Then again, maybe not. I don't know if I can cook for two slayers all the time. I'll have to buy the grocery store!" she snickered, and then got a nauseous look on her face at the sad reality of her previous statement.

Willow brought me out of my thoughts. "Did your mom just say two slayers? All the time? Is Faith there?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah. She spent the night last night. We can talk about it later, Will. So what's up?" I asked, nervous about the topic of Faith being brought up. How was my best friend going to take this news?

"Oh. I – uh, well. I – you know how I've been going to my Wicca group all the time?"

I smiled. "Yeah Willow, I seem to recall you ranting about it."

"Right. Yeah. Well, I kinda – um, I kinda met someone that I want you to meet. Well, that I want everybody to meet really."

"Oo! Willow! Are you interested in this certain someone? What about Oz?" I asked, suddenly intrigued.

"What?! I mean – um – well, Buff, I – I don't really know. A-and Oz is great and all, it's just – he's…"

"Not your type? Too mysterious? A man of too few words? Too much werewolf?" I supplied.

"Um, I guess. Buffy, I don't…I'm kinda busy, so..."

"Alright, well, we can talk about it later. Where did you want to meet?"

"Well, we haven't been to The Bronze for a while. That might be fun," she said, sounding more chipper now that we were off the topic of relationships. I didn't tell her that I had been to The Bronze last night. Like I said, we could talk about the whole Faith thing later.

"Ok. How does 5 o'clock sound to you?" I asked.

"Great! See you then," she said.

"Oh, and Will?"

"Yeah?"

"You owe me a trip to the mall for not showing up yesterday."

"Yesterday? What was yesterday?" She asked, flustered. "Did I miss a – a meeting or something? Is there some new evil and –"

"WILL! Calm down. We just had that girl's day out planned. With Faith, remember? Are you feeling ok? You usually don't forget things like this," I said, expressing my concern.

"Oh, um, yeah. I – huh. I totally forgot about that. I guess I just got busy with –" she stopped abruptly. I stopped paying attention because Faith had walked up behind me and put her arms around me. Just now, she was kissing my temple.

"Buffy, I gotta go. I'll see you at 5. Bye!" I crashed back to reality.

"What? Will? What –" My questions were met by a dial tone. "Huh."

"What's up with Red?" Faith asked. Between the slayer hearing and being a few inches from the phone, she had obviously heard the last part of our conversation. I wonder if Willow had heard Faith? What if that's why she hung up?

"Shh, B. It's alright. I bet she's fine," she said quietly, noticing my panic. Seeming to read my mind she said, "And she didn't hear me. Chill."

I leaned back into her and hung up the phone. Faith kissed my temple again and then leaned her head against mine. Dawn had something to say about this as she entered the kitchen.

"PDA! PDA!" she yelled and shielded her eyes with her hand. Mom looked confused.

"PDA?" Mom asked.

"Jeez, Mom. Retreat to the 19th century much?" Dawn asked accusingly and rolled her eyes. "It means Public Display of Affection." Mom looked relieved that it didn't mean something worse. Where does her mind go these days? Nevermind. I don't want to know.

"Dawn, if you act like that when we're just standing here, what are you going to do when –" Faith decided to execute my thought with action and she turned me around quickly and kissed me on the lips.

"We're kissing?" Faith finished my sentence.

"Awww." Mom and Dawn said at the same time. They looked at each other and then laughed. I think they're rubbing off on each other too much.

"Yeah," I said weakly. I don't think I'll ever get used to the feeling of her lips on mine.

"Who was on the phone?" Dawn asked, changing the subject.

"Willow," Mom answered.

"Yeah," I said. "She wants the gang to meet at The Bronze tonight. Said she has someone she wants us to meet."

"Hmm. As in a sexy kind of someone?" Faith chuckled. I frowned. Willow said that she didn't really know.

"I'm not sure," I said, the frown still present on my face.

"Well, then I guess you'll just have to go and find out and then report back to your nosy mother," Mom said jokingly.

"And your nosy little sister!" Dawn added. At that moment, the phone rang yet again.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hiya, Buff!" exclaimed an exuberant Xander.

"Hi, Xander! What's up?"

"Well, I just got a call from Willow. Said she wants to meet us all at The Bronze tonight to meet one of her friends or something."

"Yeah, she called here too. She sounded kinda –"

"Off?" Xander supplied.

"Yeah. Very non-Willow. Do you think there's something wrong?"

"Wrong with Wills? Wrong in what kinda way? Like, possessed kind of wrong?" He asked, sounding worried.

"No, not possessed. Just, I don't know…" Faith mouthed the word 'antsy.' "Antsy, I guess. Maybe she's just nervous about tonight?" I said my thoughts out loud. Faith smiled at me using her word.

"Yeah, I guess. Well, we'll see her in a few hours. I'm sure she's fine," Xander said reassuringly.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Wait! A few hours?"

"Um, Buffy, it's almost 11 o'clock," Dawn said.

"Yeah…Are you ok, Buffy?" Xander asked.

"Me? Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. Just got my time all mixed up I guess." I said quickly. I couldn't have Xander thinking that there might be something wrong with me too.

"Alright. I might want a second opinion later though," he joked. Faith quickly stole the phone from me, grinning. I was about to protest, but she was already talking.

"Hey X-man. B's fine. She's just learned how to find a little fun so her inner tight-ass is all confused," she said. At my horrified expression, she laughed and handed the phone back to me.

"Faith? Buffy?"

"It's me, Xander," I said.

"Was that Faith? Why is she there? What did she mean 'found the fun?' Buffy did you meet someone? What –"

"Woah, Xander. Yes, it was Faith. And we'll talk about it later. No, she doesn't mean sexy fun…well kind of, but…no! No, don't even go there! I'll see you at the Bronze later." I was about to hang up when I heard Anya talking to Xander. She was yelling at him – something about having phone-sex with a hooker and not wanting her. I do not want to be in the middle of this one. Faith grabbed the phone from me once again.

"Hey, X! Yo! Let me talk to your girl for a sec." I heard Xander grumble something and then I heard Anya ranting at Faith, who she apparently thought was a hooker that Xander had called.

Faith's Point of View

"Woah, Anya. It's me! Faith? Tall, brunette? Wicked sexy but not wanting your boyfriend?" I said.

"You're not trying to steal my Xander? He's MY sex-poodle, you know." I laughed, but not loud enough so that she could hear. I didn't really want to piss off the ex-vengeance demon, even though I could take her.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't want him; trust me. So let him off the hook a little, k?"

"Well, as long as you don't want my Xander. You know, we were in the middle of great sex when Willow called. And now he calls you –"

"Woah. No, no, no. He didn't call me. He called B." Heh, that rhymes. "And look, she doesn't want him either, ok? Trust me on this one."

"Well ok. Are you going to leave us alone now so that we can go have more org-"

"Yeah, sure, Carrots. Whatever."

"What did you just call me? Did you just call me…" she paused dramatically and lowered her voice, "…rabbit food?"

I laughed out loud this time. I couldn't help it. "See ya, Carrots." I gave the phone back to a snickering Buffy.

Buffy's Point of View

There was no way I was handling that conversation. I'm betting that Faith just ruined any thoughts of sex that were previously in Anya's mind. I told a ranting Anya goodbye, and hung up the phone quickly.

"You're evil," I told Faith, laughing.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway, right?" she asked, her eyes showing a hint of hesitation.

"Of course I do." I kissed her on the nose. She relaxed unknowingly and laughed.

"Good. Now where's the food? I'm starving!"

"That's my girl," I said. She smiled at me. It was the most genuine smile I had ever seen.

Faith's Point of View

Alright, I'm not normally that mushy, but B just called me 'her girl.' How can you not love that? Not that I'd ever admit it, but it feels good to belong. To belong to someone – more specifically _that_ someone; there isn't another feeling like it in the world. Ok, enough of the mush. Time for food!

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Please, please review! They're my defense against writer's block.


	15. Kitchen Chaos

Sorry it took me forever and a day to update. Thursday was my birthday, and I had a busy weekend and didn't get a whole lot of time to write. I got a lot of writing done today however, so I can drag that out for a few days. Mwa ha ha. I got a new laptop as well so please excuse any errors – I'm not quite used to this keyboard yet.

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Joyce's Point of View

The girls really love my cooking. You know, I'm beginning to enjoy cooking a bit myself.

Hmm. Maybe Dawn will go to Janice's tonight. With the girls out of the house I could invite Rupert over for dinner. I'm sure he'd enjoy a night away from his books. It'd be fun for both of us, and I need to go to the grocery store anyway. These girls are going to eat me out of house and home.

"Buffy, could you help me with the dishes?" I still need to have a chat with her.

"Can't Dawn do it?" she asked. I know she wants some alone time with Faith, but this won't take that long. Plus, it's not really a life or death situation here.

"It's alright, B. Maybe Dusk can show me that park she's been raving about," Faith said, smiling – she knew what reaction she was going to get from Dawn.

"EEEE! Really?" Dawn yelled excitedly. She was waving her arms around again – oh dear.

"Dawn, look out!" Buffy said, but it was too late. The syrup bottle went flying off the table and onto the floor. It shattered and glass and maple syrup went everywhere from the wall, to the surrounding appliances, to the chairs. Sigh.

"Sorry," Dawn muttered. Seeing the murderous look in her girlfriend's eyes, Faith stepped in.

"Ok, Dusk. I think you've caused enough destruction for one day. It's a good thing you're not evil."

"Yes. If I were Anya, which I most assuredly am not, I would say that you would make a fine chaos demon," Buffy said through gritted teeth. She was going to have to help me clean that up, and she was not happy about it.

"Girls," I said, warning them of an impending mom spazz attack.

"C'mon, Dusk." Faith said, leading her out the door by her shoulders. I looked at Buffy. She was practically shaking, she was so mad. I took a deep breath and reached out and put a soothing hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok, honey." I went downstairs to get a mop, and a new bottle of dish soap. By the time I had gotten all my cleaning supplies together and walked up the stairs, I could hear Faith and Buffy speaking quietly in the kitchen. I decided to stay where I was for the time being and let them have a moment alone. I put the full bucket down on the stair next to me, along with the mop and the bottle of soap, and I sat down heavily next to them. It had been a long morning so far. And I still had a dinner to plan.

Faith's Point of View

Well, I'm glad I had that little chat with Dawn earlier. Kinda made it easier to talk to her. We had just talked a bit about how I got where I was, and how much I cared about her and B and Mrs. S. How I wasn't going to leave like her dad, so she didn't have to worry.

When little D and I left the kitchen, B looked like she was going to explode. I took Dawn upstairs and told her to put some jeans on or something so we could go to the park she'd been whining about.

I went into B's room and put on the same outfit I had been wearing yesterday, since I didn't have any other clothes with me. That was kind of a pain. I found B's hairbrush sitting on her desk, so I raked it through my tangled curls. I was going to put it back down, but then I realized that B would probably freak if she found my hair in it. She's got weird phobias sometimes for getting demon goo and blood all over her all the time. Anyway, I cleaned out her hairbrush and then headed to Dusk's room.

I told Dawn to just hang out for a minute. I wanted to talk to B. Just as I stepped off the bottom stair, I heard Mrs. S go downstairs – no doubt to get cleaning supplies. Good, I could talk to B for a little while.

"Hey babe," I greeted, coming in the kitchen. B was standing at the sink, filling it so that she could do the dishes. I walked up behind her and put my arms around her stomach and gave her a little hug. She sighed and leaned back into me, placing her hands over mine.

"Hey, I know Dawn can be a pain in the ass, but she didn't mean it. Do you want help cleaning up?" I asked.

"No, it's alright. Mom just went downstairs to get a mop and stuff. We'll manage."

"Ok. Are you sure you don't need anything? Dawn and I shouldn't be gone more than half an hour, and it's not that far away, so-"

"No, Fai, I'm fine. Thanks," she continued quietly, "I love you so much, baby."

"Mm, I love you too. Thank you, Buffy."

"For what?" she asked.

"I just…I've never had this…" I paused. She knew I'd continue in my own time so she just held my arms around her a little tighter. "Family."

"You'll always have us, Faith. Always. I love you, and Dawn loves you, and I know Mom loves you too. I'm glad you're here." Man, I love this girl. I'm going to cry. No, no. Faith Lehane does not cry…or get all mushy or just, no. No.

"Good." I started to back away from her to head out the door with Dawn, but B stopped me. She turned around quickly and threw her arms around my neck.

"Thank you, baby. Thank you for talking to me about stuff like that. I know you don't – you know – do that, open up, whatever. So, thanks," she muttered into my shoulder. I put my arms back around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Sure, B. Just let me know if you need something. I've got my cell with me."

"I don't want you to go anywhere," she said quietly.

"I'll be back, B. Its daylight and we're just goin' to the park."

"No, I mean…Faith? Would you stay here? Like, move your stuff out of your motel room and stay here?"

"Jeez, B, I don't know. I don't think your mom would want me here all the time," I said.

Joyce's Point of View

Yes, I am a terrible person, and I am eavesdropping. However, what makes me a terrible person makes me a well-informed mother.

Having Faith stay here would be interesting to say the least. But the way things go around here…There's an apocalypse every other month it seems, and everyone's constantly in danger. I could use a break from all of it. I think that having Faith here would give us all a little bit of a break.

I know Dawn loves Faith like another sister, so there wouldn't be a problem there. Buffy would obviously be more than ok with a closer arrangement. I don't think Rupert would mind much either if he was to stay here…occasionally…sometime…in the future… I think he would support it if I did, and I do. So it's settled. I'm going to heave my stiff butt off this step and tell Faith that I would be more than happy to have her here.

Faith's Point of View

Speak of the devil; Mrs. S just came upstairs. I pulled away from B a little so that I could see her face, but still hold onto her.

"Nonsense, Faith. I'd be delighted to have you stay with us. It'd be a nice change to have someone else around the house," Joyce said. I looked anxiously between her and B.

"Please?" Buffy asked, pouting. I hate when she does that. It's like my entire reasoning just melts.

"Sure. Yeah, why not?" I said with a smile.

"Eeee!" Dawn screeched, returning to the kitchen.

"STOP!" Everyone yelled at Dawn. She was about two steps away from slipping in the syrup puddle.

"Jeez, guys. Have a cow," Dawn said and rolled her eyes. Her expression got lighter when she turned to me, "You're really going to stay here?"

"Sure, little D," I said, grinning. What did I have to lose?

"Well, Faith, by the time you return from the park, I should be about ready to go to the Gallery. If you want, I can drop you off at your motel and you can grab your things. Depending on how long it takes you, I could give you a ride back here, or, I think Ru- Mr. Giles is stopping by. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to take you home from the shop.

"Thanks Mrs. Summers. That's really…damn. Thanks," I said. Nobody had ever been this nice, or considerate towards me.

"Of course," Joyce said. Man, she was a wicked cool lady.

"C'mon Faith! Let's go!" Dawn exclaimed. I figured I had better go before she destroyed something else. I wrapped my arms tighter around B, holding her close to me for a second. I pulled back after a couple seconds with a grin on my face and I gave her a kiss. Damn, that was some feeling.

"Love you, babe. See ya in a bit," I said and pulled away.

"Bye, baby," she said and pulled me back to give me another kiss. I smiled a huge smile and headed out of the kitchen – grabbing Dawn around the waist on the way. The kid had to have reminders that I could kick her ass if she did something stupid in the future.

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Please review. I love reviews.


	16. Confessions

Buffy's Point of View

Now that Faith made Dawn scream loud enough to deafen me, I have to look at the kitchen catastrophe that I have to clean up. Ick. Uh-oh. Mom's got lecture face.

"Buffy, I'd like to talk to you about Faith." Oh, here it comes. I knew that her little moment of laughter earlier was just a fluke. This is going to be a huge lecture about-

"I think that you two are perfect for each other," Mom stepped around the island and leaned against it, facing me. Huh?

"What?" I asked. Ok, maybe it wasn't a fluke. It'll be best not to get my hopes up, however.

"I said so before and I meant it. I think that the two of you are good for each other. Well, I think that you're good for Faith. Honey, I love both of you, and if you truly love one another, I'm glad that you've found that. But I want you to be…how do I put this..."

FLUKE ALERT! I knew it!

"I want you to be careful with Faith. She's been hurt a lot in her life. I want you to be sure that this is absolutely what you want before you get into it, because if it isn't, and you find that out too late, it could devastate her. Both of you would never be the same. I think that it would actually kill a part of her. She really loves you, Buffy. It's very obvious, and it has been for some time. But if you don't feel absolutely the same, then you need to break it off now before it causes any more damage. I think that she would be devastated now as it is," Mom continued.

"Wait, Mom-"

"No, Buffy. Let me finish. I loved your father, I did, but we weren't meant to be together forever. Thankfully he brought me two wonderful girls that I wouldn't trade anything for, but he wasn't the right one as far as forever love goes. I don't want you to make the mistake that I did, even though I love you and Dawn so much and I would do it all over the exact same way if it was the only way to keep the two of you. But you should take a step back and be absolutely sure because otherwise you could be in for a lot of pain in the future – you and Faith. I love you both, but you should also know that I may not always agree with your decisions as I support you. I will always be here for both of you however, apocalypse or not."

Wow. That wasn't what I had been expecting. I walked over and gave my mom a hug.

"Thanks, Mama. I love you." I let her go and sat on the sink across from her. "I love you, and I love Faith. Mom, I love her so much that it hurts. I want her to be here, and stay here, and I just…I'm afraid something will happen to her…that I won't be able to protect her. But I don't want to be all over-protective of her because I know it'll drive her insane. And I'm worried. Mom, I had to kill Angel once…I don't…I love her so much – so much more than Angel. And it's happening so fast, but I just hate being away from her, even now. It hurts when I can't feel our slayer connection. But right now I can feel it just like she's-"

"Uh, hey. I just, um, I forgot my…" Faith stood in the doorway and gestured to her jacket that was sitting on the chair.

"Here," I finished. Had she heard all of that? "Oh…"

"Hey, B, just…don't…it's all good. I'll just…I'll be back…gonna go, now. So…later."

"Wait, Faith!" Mom grabbed my arm, and Faith was already out the door. What have I done? I probably scared her off! I mean, she knows I love her, but…not…Ah!

"Shh, Buffy."

"What? No! Mom, what if she heard everything?"

"Oh, I have no doubt that she did."

"WHAT?!?"

"Buffy, I heard her come back in. She heard everything that we said. And don't you look at me like that! She needed to hear it. Now it's going to take her a little bit of time, but she knows that we're both sincere," she said simply. "She needed to hear it," she repeated and sighed.

I don't even know what to think anymore. I think I really screwed something up here.


	17. Lucky Charm

Faith's Point of View

Talk about your awkward moments. Seriously. Man, I had no idea that B really felt like..well, like I do. Deep down I'm still thinking it's just going to fall apart any minute. Nothing this good ever lasts – not for me. But if she really means everything that she just said…damn. Crap, Dawn's lookin' at me funny.

"You ok Faith?" she asked. Obviously not, Dawn.

"Yeah. Five by five."

"Whenever you say that you're not actually ok, so what's up?" Damn it, why did she have to be blessed with her mother's perception? Whatever, it's just Dawn. Chill out, Faith.

"I just…I got into the kitchen to grab my jacket, you know?"

"Yeah it took you like ten million years," she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, do you wanna know what happened, or not?" She just nodded. Thought so. "K, so I got inside and your mom's telling B how she should be careful with me and that she should love me as much as I love her otherwise it's all gonna go to hell like your mom and dad. Like my mom and dad, come to think of it."

"Well what did Buffy say? Don't tell me you just left before she said anything!"

"Tempting as that option was…I stayed. B just said that she really loved me…sounds like she loves me almost as much as I love her – which is actually impossible, but it's a nice thought."

"Why is it impossible?"

"Look, D, nobody's ever really loved me. My watcher, maybe, but I had to watch her die…I can't let that happen to everybody I care about, you know? I just, I love B so much that I actually feel sick when she's not around. She said that too…basically. Said it hurts when she can't feel our slayer connection. Man, I'm in for a load of shit if she dies. Shit, I didn't mean that like that, I just…"

"You can't lose her. Not like everyone else. She's different than everyone else because she's so much like you. She understands the whole slayer thing, and she just…gets stuff. I get it." Chick's insightful; kinda nice sometimes.

"Yeah. How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Manage to figure out what I'm saying when I'm not actually saying anything."

"Pff. Please. I have mad skills," she smirked and bumped hips with me. "Learned from the best."

"Oh no. You do NOT want to start that with me," I said and bumped my hips with hers, enough to make her stagger. She giggled and pushed her full weight into me. I pushed her back and she started running. By this time, we had reached the park, and she jumped up onto a swing.

"C'mon, Faith! Can you push me?" What a little twerp.

"I don't think you want that either, little D," I called. I ran to catch up to her and gave her an underdog on the swing. Heh, this was kind of fun.

"You know, Dawn, you're pretty cool for a kid," I said, grinning.

"I am NOT a kid! Don't make me come down there!"

"I dare you! Double-dog dare you!" When did I turn into a seven year old?

Dawn jumped off the swing and landed right in front of me, taking me by surprise and knocking us both onto the ground with her forward momentum.

"Oof. What did you have to do that for?" I don't like being taken by surprise.

"Hey, you're the one that's supposed to have the slayer reflexes! You should have caught me or something," she said and I laughed.

"Yeah, sure, D. Well here's a piece of news: I'm not superwoman. Now that I think about it though, I am way hotter and cooler. There should probably be something like that devoted to me."

"Xander would read it if there was. Mainly cuz the cartoon you would have humungo boobs," Dawn doubled over with laughter.

"Hey now, I already have big boobs. No need for cartoon ones," I laughed. Dawn flipped over on her stomach on the grass and I followed suit.

"Ooh! Look Faith! A four-leaf clover!"

"They're really from leprechauns, you know," I managed to say with a straight face.

"Really?" Dawn's eyes lit up.

"No, D. As far as I know, leprechauns don't exist. If they did though, four leaf clovers would probably be the equivalent of leprechaun eyelashes or something creepy."

"You're scared of leprechauns? You eat Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast all the time when you come over," Dawn said with a frown.

"Heh. Yeah. Leprechaun kibbles. Nah, I'm not scared of them really; just wouldn't want to meet some while on patrol some time. They just seem creepy."

"Oh, yeah I guess. I never thought of Lucky Charms that way – as leprechaun food; that's weird."

"Yeah, well, I'm a little weird sometimes. Guess you gotta be to deal with the stuff B and I do every day."

"Are you guys going to be ok now? I bet she thinks you just got freaked and ran, which you did, actually. You should probably talk to her about it."

"Yeah, I didn't mean to just run…but you know how I am," I laughed, humorlessly. Dawn put an arm around my shoulders and half-hugged me as much as was possible from our positions on the grass.

"But you won't anymore, right? That's what you said, when you talked to me earlier."

"I told you the truth, Dawn. I'm done running. I love all of you too much. Your mom's right. It'd kill me," I said seriously. Dawn looked as if she was about to cry. "You ok, D? I didn't mean to say anything bad-"

"No, you didn't say anything bad," she sniffed. "I'm just really happy." She grinned. Man, did all the Summers women have to cry when they were happy? It's going to start happening to me and we can't have that. It'd ruin my rep.

"Good. Well I guess we should head back home. I don't want to make your mom late for work."

"Yeah. Race you back?"

"Dawn, I'm a slayer!" I barely had the last word out and she had already started running. "You're crazy!" I called after her.

"I know!" she yelled over her shoulder. I sighed and ran after her. In a few seconds I had picked her up and was giving her a piggy back ride at lightening fast speed. "Wheee!" she yelled.

Joyce's Point of View

Ah, the kitchen is clean. That'll be perfect for dinner tonight. What am I going to cook? And how can I make sure that Dawn goes to Janice's tonight? And when am I going to tell Rupert and how? Oh my.

"Yo, B!" Faith's home; she just burst into the kitchen carrying a giggling Dawn on her back.

"Upstairs," I pointed. Faith grinned and shrugged Dawn off of her shoulders. Dawn whined. Surprisingly, Faith came over and stood in front of me with her hands in her pockets, looking sheepish.

"Look, Mrs. Summers, thanks for what you said before."

"Of course, Faith. I meant every word. I love you as if you were my own daughter." Her eyes looked a little watery. I knew that she wouldn't let herself cry, but I think in that moment, she was close.

"Thanks," she managed. I reached out and wrapped her in a huge hug. Dawn came over and wrapped her arms around both of us.

"Group hug!" Dawn said. Faith and I chuckled and we all broke apart.

"Thanks for the fun trip to the park, little D," Faith said. They must have had a good time.

"It was cool! Can we go again soon?"

"Yeah. That sounds like a party to me," Faith winked. I wonder what they talked about.

"Faith, I'll be ready to leave in about ten minutes if you'd like a ride."

"That'd be great. Thanks. I'm gonna go talk to B for a minute," she pointed over her shoulder to the stairs. I nodded and watched her leave. I hope she can talk this out with Buffy fairly simply.

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Thanks for reading! Now click that little magical green button (that has nothing to do with leprechauns, for those of you also creeped out by them) and send me some feedback, please!


	18. Lover and a Mother

Ok, so all of you, my wonderful readers, have full license to throw a book at my head for not updating sooner. *ducks a flying volume of War and Peace* However, before you give me a concussion with that book in your hand, let me say that I'm being a good little author and writing AND updating BOTH of my stories today. Now I can't write if I'm unconscious, so be a nice reader and put that book down. You'll only end up pulling a muscle anyway...

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Faith's Point of View

"Knock, knock. It's me. Can I come in?" I asked as I rapped lightly on B's bedroom door. I heard her sniff and clear her throat. Did I make her cry?

"Yeah," her voice broke. I walked in and closed the door behind me before looking around the room. B was curled up on her bed facing the window so I couldn't see her face. I shifted from one foot to the other, awkwardly for a minute, debating whether or not I should approach her. I fought my urge to just jump out the window and I crawled onto the bed, pressing my front into B's back and putting my arms around her.

"I'm sorry for just running out earlier. I just – I wasn't sure what to do. B, I love you so much and I – I don't know how to deal with it. I've never had anybody really love me…and it's just…there's no way to explain it. No way to explain how much I love you. I'm not running, B. I'm going to stay – unless you don't want me anymore…I guess I could just go."

"No!" B started crying a little harder. "No, Fai, don't – don't go. I need you. I love you so much, I really meant it and I was so afraid that you didn't feel the same way and-"

"Shh, B. Don't cry, and you don't have to explain," I wrapped my arms tighter around her and kissed her hair. "I feel the same way." She sniffed and turned around in my arms so she was facing me. Her face was streaked with tear stains. I frowned and wiped them away. She smiled a little and then hiccuped. Damn, she was cute.

"Isn't Mom taking you to your motel room to get your stuff soon?" she asked. I almost forgot about that.

"Yeah, I don't wanna get up though," I groaned.

"Hmm. Do you want some company? I don't really have anything else to do for the rest of the day here."

"I think I'll be alright, babe. Somebody's gotta be here with Dawn anyway," I said. B frowned at me. "Hey, it's not that I don't want to be around you. It's just that it's going to be pretty boring and it won't take that long," I kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Fine. But I don't like it." I laughed.

"I know, babe." I kissed her and hugged her closer to me for a moment before sliding off the bed. B got up and gave me another hug before I went out the door.

When I got downstairs, Dawn told me that Joyce was just finishing putting her things in the car, so I headed outside.

Joyce's Point of View

Oof. These crates of sculptures are much too heavy for me to carry. I have two slayers living in my house, why do I insist on doing these things by myself? Oh, here comes Faith.

"Hi, honey, are you ready to go?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm set. Thanks for the ride."

"Of course." Faith looks a little preoccupied. I wonder if there's something wrong. I climbed in the driver seat and went to grab the keys out of my purse but I realized that I had left my purse in back of the jeep. Faith was just opening the passenger door to sit down.

"Faith, I think I left my purse in the back of the car. Could you grab it for me?"

"Sure, Mrs. S," she said and went to the back to grab it. When she came back she was frowning slightly. She handed me my purse and I got my keys and started the car. While putting my seat belt on, I tried to gauge her mood, but with Faith, that's nearly impossible, even with mom perception.

"You know sweetie," I said, backing out of the driveway, "If there's something wrong, you can talk to me about it. It's not a bother or anything; I like to hear what goes on in that head of yours. Buffy doesn't talk to me about things very often, so I'd kind of enjoy a good mother-daughter conversation," I finished with a small smile. She sighed and looked from her lap, out the front windshield, then at me, then the windshield again.

"I've been thinking about my parents a lot is all. Kinda miss them, even though they were pretty shitty." Well that's understandable.

"That's perfectly understandable. Parents are still your parents and you're supposed to love them."

"Yeah, thing is, aren't parents supposed to love their kids? Mine never loved me. My dad was a deadbeat…not even sure who he was really, my mom always had so many guys. And she was just a barrel of fun…always OD-ing and drinking. My childhood could have been a lot better. Every once and a while we'd get a check from my mom's uncle…trying to get her into rehab. She always spent the money on more alcohol or drugs. Didn't have time for me," she paused and sniffed. I patted her arm gently but stayed silent. She looked at my hand oddly and then smiled bitterly. "Nobody had time for me. Nobody loved me or cared about me. And now I've got all of this – you and Dawn and Buffy. I just – what if I'm just dreaming? What if none of this is real? Or what if it is real and then something happens and one of you dies? That seems to happen a lot to the people I end up caring about." I never expected her to open up this much to me. In fact, I never expected her to open up this much to anyone. Maybe to her it felt as though she was just talking to herself – especially if she didn't think it was real.

"Well Faith, if this isn't real, and I'm only a figment of your imagination, I can't imagine why you would invent someone such as myself," I said. She laughed fairly humorlessly.

"You're the mom I never had, Mrs. S. My screwed up life would not be complete without another mom to screw me over. And who says it has to be my head? Could just be some hellmouth thing."

"Hmm. Well I feel real. In that case, maybe you're just something in _my_ head," I laughed.

"Yeah I think that's pretty impossible. Seriously, how could someone as nice as you think up something as screwed up and awful as me?" I paused at that.

"I guess I just need another daughter to mother," I said after a moment. Faith was quiet. Maybe things just needed to sink in a little bit. Suddenly she laughed, breaking the silence.

"Ha, what am I thinking? A hellmouth trick? You'd need a really smart super villain like…like…Giles or sumthin'!" Faith said, laughing.

"Well I don't think he's evil. Last time I checked, he seemed like a gentleman. Well, except for on that police car," I smiled. And then I realized what I just said and my eyes got so big that they had a good chance of popping out of my head.

Faith's Point of View

"What?" What the hell is she talking about? What cop car? And what about her and GILES on a cop car? If this is a dirty sex story like I think it is, I am not going to be the one to break the news to B. No way. "Mrs. S! Don't tell me you were getting all down and dirty with G-man on a cop car," I said, smirking. Damn, her eyes were huge.

"D-down and d-d-dirty?" she sputtered. Now I know where B gets that from when she's nervous. Joyce's knuckles whitened as her grip tightened on the steering wheel.

"You know, sexin' it up?" I said, my smirk growing.

"What? N-no, we – I uh, no we didn't – I mean how did you-" she stuttered and paled.

"Woah, hey, it's ok. I'm not gonna go blabbing it around. I just think its kinda funny is all. Does B know?"

"Does Buffy know? God, no! Can you imagine?" she looked at me and then continued under her breath as she turned into the motel parking lot, "How did I let that slip?" My smirk widened again.

"See? This is how it should be. I tell you about my shitty life, and you tell me about your sex-capades. And there will be no talking about any kind of slipping with B, alright? Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," 'cause there was no way in hell I was going to be the one to tell B. Mrs. S was looking at me like I was the most vulgar thing since porn. Damn. Now she's looking like she's going to throw up.

Joyce's Point of View

Thank the Powers that Be we are at the motel! There was no part of that conversation that I enjoyed. I think I can take Faith at her word that she won't tell Buffy though. Faith is still smirking at me.

"Don't worry about it," she repeated, jumping out of the car and closing the door so she could talk through the window, "I'll be back in a sec. I don't exactly have a lot to pack," she said and then disappeared inside her motel room – had she left the door unlocked? That wasn't very safe.


	19. Motel Trouble

This chapter has a little bit of an Angel/BtVS crossover in it. If you've never seen the show Angel, Cordelia is part of the "Angel Investigations" team. Their motto is "helping the hopeless." I think you'll be able to understand what goes on here from that statement. Remember that Spike has been in LA with Angel, Darla and Drusilla. Again, thanks for reading!

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Faith's Point of View

Wow, scoring for Mrs. S!

That's odd. Did I really leave my motel room unlocked? I don't remember doing that but-

"WOAH!" I yelled and screeched to a halt in the doorway. I looked at the lopsided number on the door; yeah this was definitely my room. But that guy on the bed with that chick – never seen 'em. I've seen more than enough of them in the last five seconds than I needed to see of them in a lifetime. When I yelled they both looked up at me, startled. Ok, what the hell.

"Hey! What the hell? This happens to be my motel room! Get your own! The nice, fat, smoky-smelling bastard in the dirty tank top down the hall will be more than happy to rent you a room for twenty bucks a day. I'm sure you could earn that by just doin' whatever it is you're doin' and charging people to see it." I shuddered and went over to the dresser and dug out my duffel bag and started throwin' my shit into it.

I've been around B too long already – I'm partially scandalized by this. I finished throwin' my stuff in my bag and gave the couple a parting wave.

"Not good to see ya; feel free to never enter my life again. Bye," I said and slammed the door, successfully knocking the drooping number clean off.

I got out to the car and realized that I had forgotten to empty one of the drawers. Shit. It's probably not even worth it, but I'm going back in there. I threw my bag in the back of the Jeep and told Mrs. S that I had forgotten something. She looked puzzled but didn't say anything.

I got up to the door and decided to knock this time. "Hey, crazy kids, I'm coming in again – I forgot something, so find something to cover up with!" Damn I really don't want to go back in there. "Three, two, ONE!" I said and opened the door. Thankfully, they heeded my advice this time. In fact, the guy already had his pants on, and the chick had the guy's shirt on 'cause it went down over her knees. Guess I kinda ruined the mood with my last entrance. Heh.

I walked over and opened the bottom dresser drawer – couldn't forget my favorite pair of leathers. I was just about to walk out the door when two flaming blanket-covered bundles barreled into the room. Damn, was this some kind of bordello that I didn't know about? The flaming blanketed bundles proceeded to stamp out their flames. Joyce decided that then was the perfect time to come in the room; she looked surprised.

After a minute of wondering what the hell was going on, I realized who the supposed bundles of fire were – Spike and Angel. I knew there was some kind of karmic bite in the ass that I had missed along the way. Now the perfect little demon twins were here to ruin my life. Great.

"Bloody hell!" Spike yelled.

"Hey!" Angel said, addressing the boy, "What do you think you're doing? We're trying to help you and it doesn't work when you start banging-" he was abruptly cut off by the chick vamping out.

"You had us worried sick!" Cordelia said gesturing between her and Angel and entering the room behind Joyce. What the hell was this? Cordelia didn't even flinch at the vamp.

"Look," the boy started, "I'm not hopeless or whatever, and I don't need help!" Cordelia and Angel looked like they were about to say something but I interrupted.

"Uh-uh. No. I am not doing this. You aren't really here, and you aren't going to ruin my life. Fang – the broody one – stay away from Buffy, you bastard. And you," I started in on the boy, "I don't have one effing clue who you are, but you stay away from everyone that I love too. I don't know how you know these…_things_," I said, gesturing to Cordelia, Angel and Spike. "But if you know them you're probably here to ruin my life in some way so just stay far fricken away; got it?" I didn't wait for an answer – I grabbed Joyce by the elbow and dragged her out of the room, slamming the door behind us once again.

We got back to the car and I put my seatbelt on and glared out the windshield at the motel room that I had just exited. If looks could kill, the fang boys would be dust by now. Joyce came in the car and cautiously stared at me for a moment before putting her seatbelt on and starting the car.

"Did you get everything that you needed?" Joyce asked. No, I could have staked two dead boys in there and then I would have gotten everything that I needed.

"Yeah. I got all my stuff. Look, Mrs. S, I don't want to mention this to B, ok? If they make themselves a nuisance, they can count on being food for the vacuum in about two seconds, but for now, I don't think that B needs that – needs to know."

"I agree completely. I think they'll leave you two alone," Joyce said encouragingly as she pulled out of the motel parking lot. Then she continued under her breath, "Then again, they do enjoy making Buffy's life miserable."

"Well hey, maybe you can help me fight them off," I said and smiled a little.

"Mm. I hit that blonde one in the head with an axe one time."

"Damn, Mrs. S! You are just full of surprising talents," I said and she blushed a little.

"Yes, well. Buffy doesn't need to know about anything that's happened today," she said. I nodded.

"Agreed. So where are we off to?" I asked – Mrs. S was taking a different route than the way we came.

"Oh, well that little episode landed me a little late, so Ru- ahem – Mr. Giles will have to give you a ride home from the shop."

"You know, it's ok to call him Rupert," I held back from saying that no one would really care or notice what name she used anyway. "I mean, I obviously prefer G-man, or Rupe but," I trailed of as she laughed a little. Summers women were easy to please once you got them figured out a little.

"Thank you, Faith. I suppose I'll start doing that," she said, still chuckling.

"Right. If I hear you calling him Ripper though, I'm not going to be positive if he's gone all magic-crazy on you or all crazy-sex crazy on you – so know that I won't be the one to save you if it is the magic-crazy Ripper," I said and laughed a little harder. Joyce turned a little redder, but laughed a bit too.

"Thank you, Faith. It's kind of nice that someone else knows. Rupert gets awkward about seeing me sometimes."

"Oh, have no fear, Mrs. S. We'll fix him. Well, fix him as in – you know, not like puppy-fix him hehe…um, how did I suddenly catch the Buffy babble?" I said, slightly confused at my previous statement.

"I knew what you meant," Mrs. S said understandingly and laughed. "And if you've caught the Buffy-babble disease after just a day, I'm not sure there's any hope of helping you speak normally ever again," she said. I laughed and we rode for a ways in comfortable silence. It was nice – having a mom-like person around. One who didn't drink herself silly and OD so she didn't have to listen to her kid anymore.

"Thanks for the talk, Mrs. S. I appreciate it," I said as we pulled into the Gallery parking lot.

"Of course. I said so before, and I meant it – I really think of you as another daughter." Damn, this is one amazing lady. I smiled – I don't think that I could have managed and adequate response. "Could you help me carry the crates in?" she asked me.

"Sure, I'd be glad to," I said and hopped out of the Jeep.

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